Wellbeing in conjunction with shaw Mind

Shawmind | Mental Health Education and Support for Communities, Schools and WorkplacesShawmind is a young charity on a mental health mission. We are committed to helping individuals and organisations understand mental health.

What is Focus Zone?

Welcome to Focus Zone – the home for Powerlifters’ wellbeing on the web!

Focus Zones are dedicated spaces at competitions for you to get away from the noise and fuss and to focus your mind on the task at hand.

Focus Zone is the first lift… it’s getting your mind and body ready for what you’re here to do and helps you get over that initial anxiety – James Brincat-Smith, Chairman, North Midlands Powerlifting

Focus Zone - The First Lift | ShawmindShawmind is a young charity on a mental health mission. We are committed to helping individuals, communities and organisations build resilience and manage

Resources Courtesy of Shaw Mind

Stress | ShawmindWe have all at some point in our lives felt the effects of stress, it is an unavoidable part of life. Whilst we are all familiar with what it feels like, we may struggle to accurately define what we mean when we say stress. This is unsurprising as stress is not officially an illness in itself and has no medical definition. This has led to disagreement amongst healthcare professionals regarding whether stress itself can be responsible for symptoms or is solely a reaction to symptoms. There tends to be agreement in mental health fields that stress can cause mental health problems and be the result of mental health problems, which can unfortunately create a vicious cycle for the sufferer. When looking to provide a broad definition of stress, we can say that stress is the brain’s reaction to excessive pressure or high demands. This can be both the result of a physical demand or a more emotionally based demand.

Social Media and Mental Health | ShawmindOver the last decade, the rise of social media has been hard to avoid; in fact the vast majority of people reading this brochure will use at least one form of social media on a regular basis. For many people, social media is seen as a largely positive thing as it allows people to keep up to date and in touch with people that they may not see as regularly as they may like. Whilst there are many positives to social media, there is also increasing evidence that extended social media use can be detrimental to a person’s mental health. In this brochure we will outline some of the positive and negative impacts of social media. It is unsurprising that much of the research into social media use and its impacts on mental health have focused more on adolescents and young adults, especially when you consider that those aged between 16–24 are considered to be the first generation who have matured at a time of social media dominance. Approximately 7% of children aged 10-15 spend more than 3 hours a day on social media websites (ONS, 2015). Approximately 84% of adults ages 18-29 claim to use at least one form of social media website; with 81% of adults ages 30-49 using one or more type of social media platform (Pew Research Center, 2021). But teens are not alone in using social media. 74% of adults who use the internet are also on social media. With so much time being spent on various platforms and apps, it is not surprising that research suggests social media can cause mental health issues. The precise effects are still being debated amongst researchers, with causation often being difficult to determine. For example, it may be that those who are already struggling with mental health problems are more inclined to seek out social media platforms. What is agreed is that extended social media use is associated with poorer mental health, with those using social media for more than two hours per day being affected the most. However, we feel that we must discuss both the positive and negative impacts of it in this brochure.

Children and Teens Mental Health | ShawmindMental health problems are not uncommon in children and teenagers. Approximately 1 in 6 children (16%) have a probable mental disorder; increasing from 1 in 9 (10.8%) in 2017 (NHS Digital, 2020). Half of all mental health conditions first occur during adolescence, at age 14, but most of these are undetected and untreated (WHO, 2020). That’s why it’s important that as a child or teenager you know that having a mental health problem is nothing to be ashamed of. While many people avoid treatment due to fear of stigmatisation, we hope that these information brochures will help to reduce the stigma around mental illness and ensure that sufferers get the help they deserve.

Student Mental Health | ShawmindWhen a person becomes a student they are often subject to a vast number of life changes in a short amount of time. For many people this will be their first time living away from home (possibly a substantial distance from their home and family). Unsurprisingly, this can put a number of students at risk of suffering poor mental health. This leaflet will briefly discuss how much of a problem students are having with mental health conditions, why they may be suffering, what they may be suffering from, and what to do to help them. It is important to remember that many conditions that students may present with are common life problems, and as such, don’t fall under the category of mental health conditions. However, there are many conditions seen in students that will be discussed here. (We appreciate that ‘university’ in the UK is called ‘college’ in the USA. For the purposes of this leaflet we will use ‘university’ to refer to both. Whilst university education is open to all ages and many people take time out before attending, we are largely referring to people aged between 17 and 25 years old when we refer to undergraduates.)

Male Mental Health | ShawmindIt may seem bizarre that we have chosen to discuss male mental health separately. After all, you may think that mental health in general covers males. To some degree you would be correct. Males will show the same symptoms as females for a vast number of disorders. However, there are some distinct differences in the ways that males seek treatment and react to symptoms that make for worthy discussion.

Women’s Mental Health | ShawmindMental health problems are common in society, with women being particularly vulnerable to certain conditions. The reasons for this include genetics, hormones, anatomy, neurology and psychosocial structures (Otten et al., 2021). The differences in mental health rates will also vary depending on the country, diagnostic criteria of mental health conditions and availability of support services in each respective nation. Societal norms and expectations also shape the way that people are treated by others, which can impact women’s mental health – and there are many common mental health conditions which particularly affect women.

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